
THE TRAGEDY OF THE NATION. 



GEORGE L. PORTER, M. D. 



266 STATE ST. 

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



al*M«« 



1^ 



rhe stors of the most tragical event in our national histo- 

ry - the assassination of President Lincoln. 

All here probably have a general knowledge of the 
crime, but the lapse of time - thirty years -, together with 
the attempts of political and religious parties to falsify 
history, has so obscured the actual occurrences, that few 
could dispassionately or accurately describe \either the de- 
velopment of the plot, the personality of the conspirators, 
the spirit of the times, the injuries of the victims, the 
character of the trial or the fate of the criminals. 

My object is not to aroo.se vindictive memories bat to put 
upon record certain incontrovertible facts upon which the ul- 
timate history of the event must rest. 

The death of Lincoln cast such clouds of gloom and horror 
over the nation that minor incidents were overshadowed and 
have been generally forgotten. The facts to which I shall 
refer are taken from concurrent testimony given at the trial, 
from records in the Department of Jastice, from contemporaneous 
history and from personal observation while in attendance upor. 
the conspirators, who were in my professional charge, during 
their imprisonment, at the time of their trial and thereafter. 

To understand the relative importance of the various in 
cidents, it is necessary to present briefly the condition of 
affairs at Washington and Canada, and the sentiment throughout 
the northern states, and that which dominated the armies in 
ib field. 

At the beginning of the war, both Washington and Baltimore 
;ere essentially Southern cities. Their customs, pre juxlicies, 
nanner of living, were founded upon the traditions bf the old 
families, whose plantations and estates stretched through the 
neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland. By marria^ , 
through many generations, families were widely connected, and i 
this relationship was more highly prized, in the conditions 
of the almost feudal civilization which then existed in 

■a,t planters had unlimited authority 



12) fortunes and the lives of their slaves, and who were nec- 
essarily dependent upon each other for the maintenance of bhi 
authority, than was the case in the different conditions of 
the democratic North. Hence the old families of Wash- 
ing-ton were generally secessionists and so remained during the 
war, and, whenever opportunity offered, were active in convey 
Lng news and supplies to their friends and relatives beyond 
the army lines. So well organized was this service and so 
Intrenched were its members in the Departments, that, during, 
the Peninsular campaign, orders sent to the army 1iere known to 
General Lee at Richmond before they reached General Mc. Clellan 
at Malvern Hill, and so openly conducted was the underground 
Southern Mail Service, that at the very close of the war, the 
postmaster of a Maryland town used a government box for the 
reception of letters, so divided that the United States mail 
was put in one end and the Confederate mail in the other. 

The influx of Northerners incident to the Union Army; the 
Vu.st business connected with the Quartermaster, Commissary, Or- 
dinance and Medical Bureaus, and with the Navy Yard; and the 
great increase in the clerical force of the Army, Navy, and 
Treasury Departments rapidly added to the population of the 
Capital but did not change the feelings of the natives. 
Nowhere else were different political opinions so sharply con- 
trasted, but the Southern sympathizer for many reasons rarely 
expressed his real sentiment save among trusted associates. 
This sentiment, nurtured by what it fed on, grew more intense i 
the wctr went on: - every rebel victory was the signal for secret 
rejoicing, and, as far as it was personally safe, for public de 
nunciation of the Union civil and military leaders:- every Un- 
ion success became the cause of sorrow and increased hatred. 
In the spring of 1865 some of these people grew desperate; 
[protected by the privileges of a rich and well-governed city 
[hey personally Knew nothing of the sufferings and dangers of 
iving in a country overrun by hostile armies; imbued with the 
igotry of a semi-aristocratic ignorance, they believed that 



Karris 
p. 120. 



the leaders of the administration embodied the power of the 
government, and that with their removal the war would close 
and the secession of the South be secured;- they did not seem 
capable of reasonably understanding the resources of the Uorth 
and apparently had no correct appreciation of the spirit of 
determination and patriotism which animated its people. 

They were not entirely responsible for these opinions, for 
:,hey had been constantly misinformed by rebel sympathizers in 
the loyal states. 

The North was honey-combed, both in the cities and through- 
out the country, by traitorous Semi-military Secret Societies, 
The Knights of the Golden Square, the C-olden Circle, and oth 
rs - composed of those who desired the success of the Gonfede 
xcy. Their object was to prevent, in every way, the prosecutioj 
3f the war, not alone by creating a public opinion hostile to 
its continuance, but also by crippling the resources of the go 
rnment, by sending supplies into the South, by aiding the se- 
cret mail-service of the Confederates, and by attempts to lib 
srate captured rebels confined in the Northern military prison 
amps. Their membership was estimated between one and two 
hundred thousand. iBy passwords and signs, the Confederate a- 
gents or messages could be forwarded from Richmond to any part 
of the North or Canada. To organize and assist these socie- 
ties, the Confederate President had sent to Canada, which 
largely sympathized with the South, some of his most able and 
unscrupulous men, - Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, who had been 
Secretary of the Interior under Buchanan; C.C.Clay, a former 
Senator from Alabama; Beverly Tucker, a judge in Virginia; 
3-eorge N.Saunders, and others of lesser note - and these were 
styled "Davis' Canada Cabinet". 

A.s in England war-vessels were fitted out to prey upon our for 
eign commerce, so in Canada were organized expeditions to plun 
der the towns and villages along our northern frontier. 
Th y were instructed to pass through New England and escap 

..ay of Halifax, burning towns and farm-houses and by robl 
and plundering lo secur noney, horses and other i t'ble 



Harris 
p. 133. 



property'. Under these instructions what was known as the 
St. Albans' Foray was started. Some escaped rebel prisoners 
under a man named Young, who had been commissioned for this pur- 
pose by the Canada Cabal, started through Vermont, burnt the 
town of St. Albans, and robbed the banks of about two hundred 
thousand dollars, but met with such a determined opposition 
that many of them were captured and the remainder escaped by 
returning to Canada. During the trial for the extradition 
of those who escaped, they received their freedom through the 
influence of the Confederate authorities with the Canadian gov 
eminent,: Saunders boasted that they - the Confederate agents 
staying in Canada - had their plans perfectly' organized, and 
were ready to sack and burn buffalo, Detroit, New York and otl 
er northern cities, and that no preparations of the United 
States government could prevent them. Nor were these idle 
boasts. Robert C.Kennedy attempted to barn New York, was ar- 
rested and hung in March, 1865. This is a part of his (Kennedy f s) 
confession, corroborated by independent testimony. "There weire 

e i Rht men of our party It was designed to set fire to the 

city on the night of the Presidential election, but the phos- 
phorus was not ready and. it was put off until the 25th. of No- 
vember I set fire to four places, -in Barnum' s Museum, 

bovejov's Hotel, Tammany Hotel and the New England House 

Had they all done as I did, we would have had thirty-two firejs 
and played a. huge joke on the fire department.", 

Capt.John V.heall, another Confederate officer, in citizen's 
dress seized a Lake Erie steamer," Philo Parsons, "Sept. 19, 1864; - 
captured and sank another vessel, the*Msland Queen;"'and later 
tried to wreck a railroad train; was arrested at Suspension 
bridge, tried b^ court martial, convicted of committing acts 
of war while wearing no visible badge of military service. 
Davis assumed officially the responsibility for beall's ac- 
tions, but the sentence of the court was confirmed and he was; 
hanged February 24, 1865. 

.. as other acts even more atrocious, threatening the lives i 



some 



innumerable men, women and oni'lcLren, were considered ana s 
attempted by these men in Canada, - the destruction of the Cro- 
Lon dam, the poisoning of the reservoirs of the large cities, 
*nd the wholesale introduction of small-pox and yellow fever 
into New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Norf oik and New Berne, 

Upon the steamer "Alpha" which arrived at Halifax, July 12, 
1864, was Dr. Blackburn, with eight trunks smuggled from Ber'mu 
3a, five of them and a valise with Spanish marks, filled with 
clothing which was said to have been infected in Cuba with yel- 
low fever. These five trunks, and one valise, filled with the 
poisoned wearing apparel were smuggled info Boston and express^ 
to Philadelphia, and the agent, a native of England and resi- 
dent of Toronto, Canada, (Godfrey Joseph Hyams) swore -and the 
express receipts of the roods were in evidence- that he was 
instructed to sell them at public auction at any price "on a 
Hot day or of a night" "as far south as he could possibly go, ' 
"where the Federal government held possession and had the most 
troops", but that the valise was to be expressed to President 
Lincoln. Hyams was afraid to express the valise, but re- 
packed the goods in nine new trunks, leaving five of them Witt 
W.B.Wall & Co., Commission Merchants, and four to a man by the 
name of Myers, a sutler at New Berne, N. C No special sickness 
followed save at New Berne, where an epidemic of yellow fever 
caused the death of many hundreds of citizens and soldiers. 
how while it is quite right that the infamy of such deeds 
should consign the names of the perpetrators to universal de- 
testation, these crimes have been referred to in order that we 
can understand what manner of men these Canadian Confederates 
were and the state of mind they were in about the first of 
April, 1865. Their brutal, cowardly, and fiendish plans 
for robbery, incendiarism, devastation, and wholesale murder of 
non-belligerents had been successfully opposed and brouf 
naught. Kennedy and Beall had been captured and executed; 
the victorious lines ol Grant were closing .round Richmond; 

, o ..csurpfl unless sora nastefc- 
th, downfall of the Confederacy was assured an±e 



! 



stroke should paralyze the power of the government. 

To these men, who, under the protection of the British flap., 
in safety and cold blood, had planned the death of hundreds of 
innocent strangers, it seemed no great matter to attempt the 
death of Lincoln, the President; Johnson, the Vice President; 
Seward, the Secretary of State; and Grant, the General of the 
Army; and they reasoned that as there would, after the death 
of these civil officers, be no constitutional method of fil- 
ling these official positions, the United States co-old have no 
legal authority, and the Confederacy would immediately receive 
foreign recognition. 

To assassinate Lincoln was no new conception. It was plotted 
to kill him in Baltimore on his way to his first inauguration 
in 1861. I was one of the mounted guard that escorted him 
in Philadelphia to the Continental, and again saw him in the 
evening. He was a gaunt, awkward, countrified man of fif- 
ty-two; six feet three and a half inches in heiglit, long in 
legs and arms. His face was sallow, thin, angular, homely tc 
a marked degree, but stamped with humor, honesty and determina 
tion, and did not betray any of the anxiety which was shown bj 
liis companions, for even then it was an open secret that he 
would not be allowed to pass through Baltimore unmolested. 

By a clever manoeuvre those watching for him in the latter 
city were outwitted, and loyal men breathed easier when the 
telegraph, the next morning, announced the safe arrival in 
Washington of the President-elect. 

The fear of death by assassination had little effect upon I 
Lincoln. Threatening letters were constantly received a , 
the White Plouse but the brave man told his friends that he 
could not possibly guard against these personal dangers unless 
he should shut himself up in an iron box, in which condition 
he could, scarcely perform the outies of President. by the 
hand of a murderer he could only die once, "to go continually 
in fear, would be to die over and over." 
kgain, he said to his friend, Father Chiniquay, -"I se >thdr 



Harris 
p. 151. 



way than to be always prepared to die. I know my danger, but 

a man must not care how and where he dies, provided he dies at 
the post of honor and duty. " 

The assassination of Lincoln, Johnson, and. Seward was publicly- 
proposed in December, 1864, five months before its consumma- 
tion. In the Selma {Alabama) Dispatch was published this 
offer under the caption: - 

"Million Dollars for Assassination." 
One million dollars wanted to have peace by the 1st. of Marc] 
If the citizens of the Southern Confederacy will furnish me 
with the cash, or good securities for the sum of one million 
dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Wm. H.Sew- 
ard, and Andrew Johnson to be taken by the first of March next. 
This will five us peace, and satisfy the world that cruel ty- 
rants cannot live in a land, of liberty. If this is not ac- 
complished, nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of fifty 
thousand dollars in advance, which is supposed to be necessar^ 
to reach and. slaughter the three villains. I will give, my- 
self, one thousand dollars towards this patriotic purpose. 
Every one wishing to contribute will address box X, Cahawba, 
Alabama. December 1st. 1864." 

In January, i865, Thompson told, a man in Canada that he had 
bold, daring men who proposed to execute the plan, and he was 
in favor of the attempt, but had concluded to defer giving his 
answer until he should have consulted with his government at 
Richmond. On the 6th. or 7th. of April, 1865, John H. 

Surratt arrived in Montreal with despatches from Richmond for 
Thompson. After reading these letters, one from Mr. benjamin 
the rebel Secretary of State, and one in cipher, -thought to bp 
from Jefferson Davis- Thompson said, --This makes the thing all 
right." Within two days, two hundred thousand dollars were 
withdrawn from the Ontario bank of Montreal, and Surratt re 
turned in haste to Washington. 

This was the condition of affairs among the Canadian con- 
spirators at this eventful time - let us see how it. was at 



North. In the preceding November, Lincoln had for the 
second time been elected to the Presidency! in the previous 
March he had spoken the solemn and sublime sentences of the 
second inaugural; -in the early days of April the glorious new 
of Dee's surrender announced approaching peace. 
Rejoicings over a once-more united country, the vindication oj 
the wisdom of their chief executive, whose patience, ability, 
and. goodness had sustained the authority of the government 
through the disappointments, defeats and trials of the sorrow- 
ful years of the war, made glad, the hearts of all loyal people 
and prepared them to welcome to the sisterhood of the nation 
the returning Southern States. It was an era of gooo. 
feeling and. of magnanimous forgiveness. 

In the army the same sentiments largely prevailed. Among 
opposing troops in the field there is little personal feeling 
of hatred. While in battle every opportunity is improved 
damage and destroy the strength of the enemyj after the fight 
is over, the wounded, - be he friend or foe, - receive equal at 
tention. This was particularly the case with the soldiers o 
the Army of the Potomac, and of the Army of Northern Virginia 
On many a hard-fought field, they had tested their oour a§ - 
with varyin£; results and each appreciated the valor of the oth 

But the first week in April had witnessed the last 
conflict between these veteran soldiers, and by the generous 
terms of surrender extended to Lee by Grant, the Confederate 
troops, fed by the Union commissary, were returning to th ir 
homes, paroled by the government and grateful for its clemen- J 
y. The Northern soldiers, thankful that the war had 
been successfully ended, with no enmity for their former opp 
nents, congratulating each other that there was to be no more 
exposure to the hardships and dangers of campaigns, impati-. 
awaited the order for their muster out, and their return to 
their friends and the occupations of civil life. 
Public affairs betoken tie reestablishment of the bless i 
Lonal prosperity. 



Then, as unexpectedly as a bolt of lightning from a cloud- 
less sky, came the news of the assassination of Lincoln and th 
brutal assault upon Seward. Rejoicings at the North anc 
in the armies gave way to sorrow and indignation. 
Fortunate was it for the South that the wicked deeds had not 
occurred before the surrender. 

Lincoln was esteemed by all loyal people but he was beloved 
by the soldiers, and each one felt that in his death he had 
lost a powerful, and almost personal, friend. 

John Wilkes Booth, Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, her son, John H. Sur- 
att, instigated by the Confederate Cabal in Canada, and some 
3f the civil authorities in Richmond, - for the Southern soldie- 
vere not implicated, - were the prime movers in the plot. 

Booth was of an erratic and undisciplined disposition, inner ■ 
iting some histrionic ability from the great actor, his father, 
Lhe elder Booth; a good looking young man, of much personal 
uagnetism; fond of good clothes, high living and fast company; 
flush with his money, fond of admiration and reckless and low 
in his dissipations and company; shirking all systematic work, 
and covetous of achieving celebrity by some notorious act. 

The Canadian Confederates stimulated this morbid ambition with 
assurances that by accomplishing the removal of Lincoln he would 
secure the affection of the Southern people and the admiration 
of Lhe world. 

The Surratts were principally actuated by sympathy for the 
South and. by bitter hatred of the Union cause. Tliese three 
and all their assistants expected larr;e pecuniary rewards. 

During the summer and autumn of 1864 and winter of 1865, Booth 
and Surratt often visited Canada, consulting with rhompson and 
the others, and, upon returning to Washington, spent much time 
in the counties of Maryland bordering upon the Potomac, becoming 
familiar with the roads, over which Booth subsequently made las 
escape. 

Booth selected for his assistants, David E.Herold, C 

Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, Ed- 



i«l 



1 i i i SiJcj.rj.Eiei", and Dr.Uudo.. 

Herold v/as an insignificant young, man, hardly mors them a 
ooy, whose school-clays had been spent in Charles County, Mary- 
Land, who had been at times a druggist's clerk in Washington, 
ind who had been picked up by Booth to run his errands and at- 
tend to his horses, and was much elated by associating- with the 

Ixotov. 

Atzerodt, called "Port Tobacco" was a dissipated hanger- 
3ii of Washington saloons and often engaged in smuggling across 
.he Potomac, loud in his cups, savage in threats, but a craven 
in action. He was to have assassinated at the Kirkewood 
•louse, vice President Johnson, and had there taken a room in 
,;hich were afterwards found, hidden in the bed, the revolver 
Mid. bowie-knofe which Booth had given him, and hanging on the 
/rail was the overcoat belonging to Booth and containing his 
Canadian bank-book. 
When the conspirators separated at the theatre for the per- 
ormance of their respective crimes, Atzerodt did not return 1 
the hotel, but after wandering about the streets tried to es- 
cape through Upper Maryland, and. was arrested in Montgomery 
County, April 20th. He offered to turn State's evidence. 

Payne was sent from Canada in February, remaining the first 
night in Washington at the house of Mrs.Surratt, and three weejks 
later remained there for three days. He was a brutal 
type of guerrilla trooper, - of great strength and agility, 
chested and broad-shouldered, with an enormous neck and compai- 
atively small head, ferocious but. of little wit. M, fi 
he had been by lot selected to kill Lincoln, but afterwards 
was assigned to murder Seward. 

Arnold had b n , soldier. He had been one of the early co 
spirators with sooth but growing weary of the often postponed 
performance, had about a month before go. to Fort Monro , 
Mt(] . , , attta timetoprepar Lh 
fl his party through Southeast Virg: 
O'Lo • LJ ' r > a lover c 



p. 4-75. 



,- 



Harris 
p. 193. 



nd low company; his ta.sk was the assassination of General 
Grant. The General' s -unexpected departure from Washing ton 
prevented the attempt. 

Spangler was the least Intelligent of all the assistants - 
the carpenter of the theatre - and was completely under Booth' 
influence, probably knew nothing of the plot but was used by 
Booth to arrange the fastenings of the doors of the theatre-box 
and aid him in his escape from the stage. He thus gave Booth 
much assistance. 

With the exception of Mrs. Surratt, Dr.Mudd was the most in- 
telligent of them all. He lived near Bryant-town, Md. , about 
thirty miles from Washington, had sometime previously intro- 
duced Booth to John Surratt, had assisted Booth in the pur- 
chase of the horse upon which Payne tried to escape, Was bit- 
terly opposed to the North because most of his slaves had run 
away, and was suspected of giving aid and comfort to the enemj, 

There was no direct evidence that he Knew of the assassina- 
tion until afterwards, hut, whether influenced by fear for hiri 
self, or by the desire for the escape of Booth, he told so many 
and so contradictory lies about his connection with the affair, 
that he was arrested and tried. 

Mrs. Surratt was with booth the life of the enterprise, and 
her home on H t 54l) Street was the meeting place of most of 
conspirators. She was a good-looMng widow of about forty- 
five. She owned a place in Maryland, some ten miles below 
Washington, which she had rented to a man by the name of Lloyd 
She was said to have been an affectionate mother and^a pleasant 
acquaintance, but she was saturated with the local intensity j 
hatred against the government: long before she had said that 
she "would give one thousand dollars to any one that would Ml 
.inooW." She personally attended to many of the arrangements 
to facilitate Booth's escape. Upon Tuesday - the 11th. 
.t Booth's * his expense she went to her house in 

Uano, where Herold, Surratt, and v.erodt had s, 

, yd „ t0 , shooting-irons 



handy as tfcey would be called for before long-..- U[)on t ^ 2 
14th., Friday, the day of the assassination, she again went to 

ee Lloyd, talcing to him from Booth a field-glass and two bot- 
tles of whiskey, and told him "to have the shooting-irons, etc 
ready as they would be called for that night." After her re 
turn, about nine o'clock, some one, probably Booth or John ; 

itt came to see her, found out that everything was ready at 
uloyd's and went directly to the theatre. 

About ten minutes after the murder, and before it was know 

i that part of the town, a window in her house was raised anc 
a woman asked two soldiers "what was wrong down town?" 
The time appointed for Lincoln's death was ten minutes past 
-en. The local traditions assert that in the room and on 1 
bed. where Lincoln died, that afternoon Booth had tried to ta 
a nap, in preparation for the fatigue of the night. 

The details of the plot, so long contemplated and so care-, 
fully studied, were now complete. The time and actors were 
known to many; - how many will never be known. It was the sub- 
ject of so frequent and public conversation among the Confeder 
ates in Canada, that it is in testimony, that Clay, one of 
their number, said, in speaking of the rejoicing over Lea's sur- 
render - "they would, put the laugh on the other side of their 
mouth in a day or two, " and Saunders expressed apprehension 
that Booth would make a failure, - saying that "he was desperate 
and. reckless, " and he was afraid the whole thing would prove a 
failure. Dr.Merritt, a native of Canada but of New York par- 
entage, testified before the commission, "I was at Gait, .... and 
I ascertained there that Harper and Caldwell had stopped there 
and had started for the States. When I found they had left | 
for Washington, probably for the purpose of assassinating the 
President, I went to Squire Davidson, a justice of the peace, 
to give information and have them stopped. 

He Said that the thing was too ridiculously or supremely 
surd to take any notice of: it would only appear foolish to 

give such information, and cause arrests to 



Gath 

p. 500. 



F.ro-u.nds; it, was so inconsistent that, n 



o person would believe 



it; and lie declined to is 
the ,yod£e of the court of 



sue any process. I then called 



upon 
assizes, made my statement to him 
ana he saio that I should have to go to the grand jury. » 
This testimony is corroborated by that of Squire Davidson. 

But I will not weary you with cumulative evidence, of which 
U> re is a great quantity. m the afternoon Booth had also! 
spent some time with Atzerodt at the Kirkewood and had pre- 
pared a card, which would have introduced the assassin to the 
room of the Vice President. 

Each of the active conspirators had secured horses for their 
flight;- the others were seen between nine and ten riding on 
the avenues, but Booth's horse was held by a boy, in a lane 
back of the theatre. 

It was generally known in Washington that the President with & 
party was that evening to attend a presentation of "Our Amer- 
ican Cousin". Booth had given tickets to some of his friends; 
and had advised others to be present telling them that "they 
would see Freat acting." There was a chance that the Presi- 
dent would leave at the close of the second act. At this 
time, Booth, saying, "I think he will come down now, " with tw<t> 
companions aligned themselves upon the sidewalk, intending to 
shoot Bincoln there, but the President remained in the build- 
ding. Booth went into an adjoining saloon, took a drink of 
whiskey and reentered the theatre. 

A well-dressed man in the crowd cries out the time and some 
one rides away. It is Herold on his way to conduct Payne to 
tli: house of the Secretary. Herold had been selected to pi 
lot Payne, who was unfamiliar with Washington, through the 
streets of the city, and the entire party through the byways 
of Charles County to the Potomac. teaching the home of the 
Secretary, Payne Dismounts, hands the bridle to Herold, enter 
- ostensibly with medicine from Dr. Verdie, -f or Mr. Seward, by a 
recent, carriage accident, is confined to his bed, in an upper 

ber, with a broken arm and a broken jaw. 
P^yi ■ isaults 



on of the Secretary, twice fracturing his skull, bursts i n t 
Lhe sick-room, slashes at the venerable man on the bed, 8 f J 
bin, him in the neck and nearly cutting; off his entire' ch 
*nd attempts to disembowel the faithful soldier-nurse, who \ ± 
^ough hxmself an invalid and maimed, bravely grapples with th 
infuriated assassin who is continually shouting, "I am mad! I 
M mad!" ICscapin. from the room, Payne wounds on the stairway 
two other persons, leaving; in this house of suffering and hor- 
ror, five desperately injured men, regains the street to find 
that Herolo. has deserted him and that his horse is walking a- 
way. To catch him is easy work for the guerrilla trooper, 
but without a guide he rides in vain to find the bridge, cross 
ing into Maryland. Spurring rapidly in the darkness he is 
thrown from his falling horse, - remains for some time uncon- 
scious and for the next two days hides, probably in the Congre 
sional Cemetery. Compelled by hanger, about midnight, April 
17th., he returns to the house of Mrs.Surratt. With a 

laborer's pick in his hand, and a part of his shirt-sleeve fo: 
a cap, for he lost his hat when he was thrown, he knocks and 
is admitted to find himself covered by the pistols of the of- 
ficers who had come to arrest her. When the two were con- 
fronted she raised her right hand exclaiming, "Before God, Sir 
I have not seen that man before; I have not hired him. I dc 
not know anything about him. " This voluntary statement was 
most damaging, for, as before mentioned, Payne was of marked 
personality, had been a frequent visitor at her house within 
two months, had remained there for at least four days, sitting 
at her table and conversing with her. These two were the 
first arrested. 

Again some one spol&c th time, "ten o'clock and five minuted," 
and the assault at the Kirkewood was to have been made. 

Again the voice louder and clearer than before cried out, 
"ten o'clock and ten minutes". The crowd separated in 
lobby and boot), goes up the stairs to the dress-circle. 
Two boxes had by the removal of a partition 3d inf 



to one for the reception of the p.rty. Tnere was a passage- 
way behind the doors of the boxes, and a door closed this pass- 
are from the gallery. The doors were held by spring locks 
on the inside. Some one, probably the carpenter, Spangler, 
had withdrawn the screws of the locks, so that the doors could: 
be pushed open; and a mortice had been cut in the wall opposr 
the otuer door so that a brace would prevent anyone opening i 
from the outside; a board for this purpose was left back of 
the door. Boot], pushed by the sentinel at the outer door 
saying that the President had sent for him, forced out the 
screws of the lock, and secured the door with the plank. 

Standing in the dark passage, through a hole recently rearaec 
out in the inner door he located the members of the party. 

Lincoln was at the angle of the box away from the stage. Mrs. 
Lincoln was accompanied by Miss Karris, daughter of Senator 
Harris, and Major Rathbone, in place of General and Mrs. Grant 
as was originally intended. The second scene of the third 
act held the attention of the auaience. Unnoticed Booth en- 
tered the box, a bowie-knife in his left hand, in his right a 
revolver, - its muzzle within three feet of his victim - has- 
tily assured himself that his plan for immediate escape was 
feasible, and then fired, shouting, "Revenge for the South"- 
dropped the pistol, transf erred the knife to his right hand, 
and iolaced his left hand on the balustrade to spring down to 
the stage, twelve feet below. Much practise had made this 
for him an easy thing. 
Major Rathbone sprang to seize him, but received a cut lay- 
ing open the arm from shoulder to elbow. Booth leaped to the 
stage, tearing the decorations at the front of the box and ap- 
parently twisting his ankle, partially fell, but immediately 
rose, turned to the audience, brandished the bloody knife, ae 
claimed, "Sic semper tyrranis" and limped behind the scenes. 
It did not take in its whole y rJ ormance the time I have ■ 
in the telling. T3 port of the pistol was muffled by 
vy draperies ana the audience was not fully aware of 



actual events until they saw the smoke coming from the box and 
heard Mrs. Lincoln' s cry of "Murder". People tried to force 
open the door but it Was held fast by the brace, and it was 
not opened until my messmate, Mr. Mc. Clay, a Lieutenant of the 
Ordinance Corps, was lifted into the front of the box from the 
stare. It was intended in the original plan, when the 
shot was fired to have all the lights extinguished, allowing 
the assassin to escape in the darkness, but Booth would not re 
linquish this opportunity for theatrical display and thereby 
made more difficult his escape. 

The President was shot just behind the left ear, - the ball per- 
etrating nearly the entire transverse diameter of the bra.in, - 
became immediately and xjermanently unconscious, was removed tc 
a neighboring house, and about seven the n?xt moraine painless- 
ly died. Booth passed to the alley behind, the theatre, 
mounted his horse,, was joined at' the Old Brick Church by Herold and 1 
rode rajjidly to the Navy Yard bridge over the Eastern branch 
of the Potomac, which they approached separately. When chal- 
lenged, Booth gave his own name - for no general alarm had yet 
been given - reasoning that when it should be reported, the po- 
lice would think that some confederate had given it as a blinci 
so that the real criminal might gain time in escaping some otl(L- 
er way, and this was what actually occurred. 

Fifteen minutes after the crime, every telegraph line 
leading out of Washington except a government wire to Fort Mon- 
roe, was cut,, - an evidence of the wide ramification of th 
plot. Herold followed, passing himself off as a farmer re- 
turning from an evening in the city. Once over the bridgfe 
they galloped to Lloyd's, where Mrs.Surratt, in the afternoon] 
had left the field-glass and .whiskey, took these and one of the 
carbines and continued their journey into Charles County tow-i 
ards the smuggler's crossing of the lower Potomac. 
When Booth jumped from the box, his spur caught in a fold oJ 
j.nd so twisted him in the accustomed leap, t 1 
, i broke Lhe small bo: if the left let I ■ ■.. - 



fainting on the stage, but the nerve of the man, and tlie 

citement, enabled him to limp off and mount his horse. 

rhe pain grew so intense during the weary ride that he could 

in the morninfc 
not continue his flight, and they stooped about four o'clock at 

A 
the house of Dr.Mudd for rest and treatment of the fractured 

bone. Here he remained until late in the afternoon, when Mucjid 
and Herold, who had been to the village, where they had seen 
the pursuinp Union cavalry, returned and forced him to hide in 
woods. In a thick grove j lQ ^ay on the cold ground for nearly 
one hundred and fifty hours before he was taken to a boat on 
the Potomac, and during this time the pain in the leg grew mo: 
severe from poor surgery and out-door exposure, causing high 
fever and occasional delirium, in which, it is reported, lie 
thought he was visited, for hours at a time, by the murdered 
Pre sident. 

The search had now become so hot that those who had been pro- 
viding for him, grew alarmed for their own safety and in the 
Darkness carried him to the river. Plerold paddled across, havihg 
first shot their horses. On the Virginia side he was carried 
in an old wagon to the Rappahannock, where they were met by 
three of Moseby's officers, one of whom loaned Booth his horse 
and they together rode to a farm-house near Bowling Green; the 
officers here left them and Booth and Herold sought shelter in 
the burn. Before morning it was surrounded by the Union caval- 
ry; in the darkness they were summoned to surrender. Heroic 
gave himself up but Booth refused, saying however, that if they 
would give him a distance of a hundred yards he would come out 
and fight the whole party. They answered they had come to cap- 
ture and not to fight him. The barn, a sort of tobacco drying 
shed, the sioes of loosely jointed boards, stocked with some 
little hay, was set on fire, and by this light, contrary to or- 
ders, Sergeant Boston Corbett fired and Booth fell, the bullet 
penetratiiv - bacte ' neok at the junction of the spi 
with the head, causing entire paralysis of all the volui • 
I muscl I >dy. He v, ly the s 



Lincoln had been wounded, but, ± n the ouse of the President, t-l|e 
ball penetrating the brain caused unconsciousness and so pre- 
vented pain, whereas with Booth there was constant and excess- 
ive pain, and inability to talk or swallow, although he was 
perfectly conscious and anxious to send messages. He died about 
noon, upon the 26th. of April, realizing that his crime brought 
to him only infamy, and aroused only sentiments of indip;nation 
and horror at the North and South alike. His last message was 
to his mother telling her that he "died for his country". 

Among his personal effects was a bill of exchange, in his fa- 
vor, drawn by the Montreal uranch of the Ontario Bank. Plis 
body was wrapped and sewed up in a horse-blanket, taken to the 
Potomac, and by boat taken to the Navy Yard at Washington and 
there identified by many persons, among others by Dr. May, a 
distinguished surgeon, who had a short time before removed a 
tumor from booth's neck. The body was taken in a row-boat to 
the Washinfton Arsenal and in the dead of night, in the pres- 
ence of the military storekeeper, four enlisted men and myself 
- the only commissioned officer - was hidden in a place so se- 
cret that never to this day has it been correctly described. 

We were requested by Secretary Stanton to keep silent anc 
no man during these thirty years has yet told. I believe the 
body was finally given to the family, under agreement to never 
mark by mound or monument where it should be placed. 

The assassination everywhere created the greatest conster- 
nation. The authorities immediately realized that the crim- 
inals were simply the degraded tools of some powerful organi- 
zation and suspected that the crime might be the signal for th 
union of the traitorous secret military societies of the Ilorth 
and the rebellious soldiers of the South and for the inaugura- 
tion of a civil war that would have no defined boundaries. 

Suspicion and distrust were universal; who could be i 

iipon? 

Grant soon returning, immediately r i confidence. 

Trust said, " 



\ 









in the field." The District of Columbia, by Presioent jin - 
coin's order of September 25,1862, was unoer martial law, j| 
was now placed by Stanton under command of General Hancock, 
whose skill and bravery had been shown in many a battle and 
/ho was one of the heroes of Gettysburg; General Hartrauft - 
afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania - was made by the Presi- 
dent's order, Special Provost Martial General; the old Peniten- 
iary on the Arsenal Grounds at the foot of Four and a half 
Street was selected as the place of imprisonment; the military 
-uard consisted of four regiments of the Veteran Reserve com- 
posed of soldiers who had been relieved, on account of wounds 
xnd injuries, from active service in the field. 
rhe city for a short time was almost as if in a state of siege 
strong guards commanded the approaches; no person came or went 
without careful inspection; telegraphic communication was re- 
established. Many were suspected and arrested, some 
of whom were never brought to trial. 

With the exception of Booth and Eerold, the active conspir- 
ators in Washington were speedily captured. Payne was at first 
confined on a gunboat, and as he had there attempted to commit 
suicide by knocking his head against a beam, upon removal to 
the Penitentiary, he and. the other prisoners, were forced to 
wear a hood, thickly padded and open only for the eyes, mouth 
and nose;- they' were all manacled and placed in separate cells 
Secured by doors of heavy iron crossbars. At each door was 
constantly stationed a sentinel, and a company of soldiers wa 
always on guard in the building. 

In a little while) the hoods, acting as sweating bath to the 
head, caused symptoms of mental trouble in some of the prison-' 
v c already debilitated by the nervous tension of past 3xcite-f 
ment and present fears. I notified Secretary Stanton that 
unless the hoods were removed and exercise permitted in the 
open air, he would have a lot of lunatics on his hands a ! i 

dical council. You can realize that a youi 
as I then was, I was unwilling 



1--J 



the health of twenty or thirty people, on trial, in very un- 
gual circumstances, for their lives, and to whom was directed 
the attention of the civilized world. 

Dr. Gray - the head of the Utica Asylum, an alienist of th 
Highest authority - came in response to the invitation of th 
Secretary and endorsed my recommendations;- the hoods were 
nanently removed and two or three hours of exercise in the en- 
closed yard allowed. At my request they were also permitted t 
Have reading matter, Secretary Stanton stipulating that there 
should he no books or papers furnished that had been printed 
vithin thirty years. The selection was at my discretion;- I 
Loaned them mainly the stories of Cooper and Dickens. 
I have been recently assured by a gentleman of New York, who 
vas one of the suspected prisoners and is now a prominent law- 
yer and lias been a member of the national committee, that, in 
Lis belief, what I then did for him, preserved his reason. 

I was ordered to make three daily inspections of each of the 
prisoners, and twice a day to make a written report of their 
ondition to the Secretary of War direct. 

My personal relations with the prisoners were cordial and 
pleasant. Why should they not have been? Whatever of comfor 
or of privilege they received were largely procured by my rec- 
ommendation. At first Mrs. Surratt refused to take food, evi 
aently intending to provoke an attack of sickness, and would 
yield to no threat of her attendants but when I assured her in 
a kindly way, that for her health I was professionally respon- 
sible, and, that, much as I should regret the necessity to r - 
sort to such methods, I should employ all the means, which I 
expha- ij -~'~~ to her, for supplying her with required nourishment, 
she quietly yielded and thanked me. for my considerate treatmenjt 
They all behaved well and gave no trouble. They were none of 

ii hardened by previous criminal association"?. 
Upon May 10th. was convened the Court Martial for their tri 
al; - Major General Hunter, presiding. General Joseph Holt, J 

Advocate General, U. S. A-. , was the Judge Advocate and Recorder. 
Herold, Atzerodt, Payne, 0' Loughlin, Arnold, Mrs. Surratt ana 



Dr. Mud. d were the accused. 

I will not detain you with the history of the trial. Th- 
Court has been violently, and in my opinion unjustly, acous< 
of undue severity, hut of its moderation proof is given by the 
fact that none of the many persons who were shown to have aid- 
ed Booth in his escape, both in Maryland and Virginia, after 
knowing of the proclamation for his arrest, and who were not 
previously connected with the conspiracy, were put upon trial 
bat set at liberty, una only those who were connected with ex- 
ecution of the plot were punished. 

The Court was convened May 9th. and sent their verdict to the 
President, June 30th. Their findings were approved and the 
execution took place July 7th. 

Herold, Atzerodt, Payne and Mrs.Surratt were condemned to 
death, and upon the 7th. of July, 1865, were hung upon a double 
gallows simultaneously. Herold and Atzerodt going to their 
death like frightened boys, Payne with the coolness of a sol- 
dier, Mrs.Surratt, although suffering from nervous exhaustion, 
with the resignation characteristic of women who wait inevit- 
able death. For her there has naturally been much sympathy,- 
but it should be extended to her memory not for her death, but 
for the influences which moulded her feelings. She was the 
only one who properly estimated the enormity of the crime and 
intelligently and deliberately ventured her own life to de- 
stroy that of those whom she had been taught to believe had 
brought about the calamities of the Confederacy. She was 
no doubt somewhat influenced by the hope, that, if her guilty' 
actions should be fully recognized, on account of her sex, she 
might escape capital punishment. 

During the war women caught in the performance of acts, whia 
tfould have condemned men to instant death, had been liberated 
with the injunction to be good women and not to do such acts 

gain. The female spies during the war, were the most effect- 
ive members of the Co- L Secret, Service and, the natural 

results of this mawkish, unmilii try, unjust sen Lality 



caused the death of many hundreds of Union soldiers. 

It is poor equity to counterbalance an unmerciful condem- 
nation of woman's frailties by a frivolous gallantry in the 
punishment of woman's crime. 

Mrs.Surratt possessed unalterable determination ^nd an over- 
mastering devotion to the Southern cause and from tiny careful 
observation of her during her imprisonment, would, I believe, 
have willingly sacrificed her own life to overthrow the Repuh 
lie; an heroic but misguided woman. 

At midnight, July 16, Dr.Mudd, Arnold, O'ljouehlin o.nd Span 
gler - rejoicing that they had escaped the gallows - were 
marched under military guard to the government wharf at the 
Arsenal and by a Potomac boat sent to Fort Monroe, were trans- 
ferred the next night to the gunboat "Florida", Capt. William 
Budd, command i ng, and immediately carried to sea with sealed 
orders which were not to be opened until six hours from port. 
In the morning we found the bow pointing south and after coal- 
ing at Port Royal and touching at Key West finally delivered 
to the commander at the Dry To.rtugas, a military prison, Fort 
Jgfferson, whose wall enclosed the island and, was surrounded 
by a moat, which had a curious but effective patrol. The moat 
was about fifty feet wide, perhaps ten feet deep, filled with 
sea-water and stacked with big, man-eating sharks - twelve to 
fifteen feet in length - for whom all had the greatest re- 
spect. I think that the prisoners were ultimately pardoned. 
It is now realized, that the assassination, apart from its 
criminality, was a political blunder. At any previous time 
it would not have materially changed the conduct of the war-, 
except to have mad« it more bitter and to have inflamed the 
soldiers with the passion of revenge;- from the time of its 
occurrence it became responsible for many of the difficulties 
oi reconstruct. ion. 

Commiseration, not unmixed with contempt, is the sei.tim at 
entertained for the insignificant instruments who commit 

i l cts, but it must b.e remembered that th ir weak in- 



m 



telligence was dominated by powerful minds, who seduced them 
with specious pleas of loyalty to the South, and tempted then 
by the promise of enormous rewards. 

The burden of the guilt of this political blunder and of thi 
most dastardly murder rests upon those who instigated the 
crime, and they should never be forgotten nor forgiven 

'Die name of the immediate actor in the useless assassination 
arouses horror for the deed and the man, not unmixed with pit;, 
for his great suffering and final remorse. His inordinate am- 
bition, personal vanity and low morality, fitted him to beoorat 
the willing tool for any villainy when -under the influence of 
unscrupulous men. Recently I visited the locality where 
we placed his body thirty years aE'o, marked by no memorial; 
unknown alike by the stranger and by those dwelling in the 
place; preserved by no record; "unwept, unhonored, and unsung!' 
it is rapidly passing into oblivion. 

How different with Lincoln, the martyr! Fo his memory 
States and Nations vie with each other in tributes of honor; 
to commemorate the goodness and greatness of his character 
monuments of marble and eranite have been erected; institutions 
of learning, benevolence and business, streets, towns, coun- 
ties, perpetuate his name. The nation that he dearly loved, 
and served so well, annually celebrates his birth. 

For him there is no better epitaph than his own words; 

"I see no other way than to be always prepared to die. I know 
my danger but man must not care how and where he dies, pro- 
vided he dies at the post of honor and duty." 



